Straightening apparatus



Aug. 1.8y 1942..v J-.-MAsQN 2,293,156 STRAIGHTEMNG APPARATUS Filed Aug. '7. 1941 5 sheetsA-sneet. 2

INVENTOR. 'JOSEPH MASON MSM- Aug. 1a, 1942. `.L MASQN 2,293,156-

STRAIGHTENING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 7, 194i 3 Sheets-Shoot 3 INVENTOR. JOSEPH MASON BY ign. YZ0-c;

@MA-Airb Patented Aug. 18, 1942 STRAEGHTENMG APFTUS .appucantn Augusta, wir, senat No. teatri (ci. a-5r) ,d Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for straightening metal tubes and the like, and is of the type in which each tube is passed endwise between a series of staggered opposed rolls arranged in one plane, and then between a similar series of rolls in a plane at right angles to the first.

A general purpose of the invention is to provide straightening apparatus of this type in the form `of a compact enclosed unit which can be conveniently mounted, driven and operated. A further purpose'is to improve the arrangement and drive of the straightening rolls, and particulai-1y to provide positive drive of the rolls on both sides of the tube path without appreciable backlash or gear play.

In apparatus of this type the straightening rolls project alternately into the tube path from opposite sides to an extent sufficient to bend the tube alternately in oppositedirections as it travels along the path between the rolls. The extent of such bending is an important factor in obtaining efficient straightening without undue deformation or damage to the tubes. For

this purpose provision is made for adjusting certain of the rolls in a direction transverse to the path in order to obtain the correct amount of bend under given conditions. When the adjustable rolls are positively driven, the combination of suitable drive connections and adjusting means presents a problem which has heretofore been met by providing intermediate connections such asl idler gears. Such an arrangement adds materially to the complication of the mechanism, the space required and the power demand. A :feature of the invention is the provision of an arrangement in which the adjustable gears are positively `driven without the use of intermediate gearing.

An improved construction. for guiding and feeding the tubes to the straightening rolls and for transferring the tubes from one set of rrolls to the other has been devised. The invention also includes improvements in the construction and arrangement of the supporting and enclosing structure. In the preferred form a single housing is provided in which the mechanism is arranged for ready assembly, accessibility and lremoval of parts for inspection and repair withb e handled `with 'substantial care and accuracy 55 in order to prevent deformation. The invention includes features of construction which are especially adapted for straightening tubes of this type.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description considered in connec-n tion with the accompanying drawings inwhich- Fig. l is a front elevation of the straightening apparatus with parts broken away;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus with the upper part of the central portion broken away;

. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of such central portion of the apparatus;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on line 'ii-i of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section through a pair of idler guide rolls.

The tubes pass through the apparatus from right to left as viewed in Figs. 1 to 3, entering ybetween guide rolls I0 and Ii, thence passing between feed rolls I2 and I3 and a series of pairs of offset straighteningv rolls i4 and l5 to discharge rolls I6 and Il, all of said rolls being arranged in the same vertical plane. For convenience of description herein the parts will be referred to in their vertical and horizontal relationships as shown in the figures; but it is un derstood that these terms are intended to indi- .cate only the relationship of the parts, as the apparatus may be operated in any-desired position.

From rolls IU to Il, which constitute the first or vertical series, the tubes are passed to the second or horizontal series of rolls consisting of guide rolls I8 and I9, pairs of offset straightening rolls 20 and 2|, and discharge rolls 22 and 23.

The rolls and the drive mechanism are mounted on a suitable support or frame. For this purpose a unitary casing 25 has been provided, including a vertical section 26 carrying the vertical guide rolls I0 to Il and a horizontal section 21 carrying the horizontal rolls I8 to 23. In the form disclosed vertical section 26 'includes a. body 28 on which the rolls and drive mechanism of the first series are mounted. Lower guide roll I I is mounted on shaft 30 journaled in the front wall 29 of body 28 and held against axial movement, as by a suitable retaining nut on the inner side of wall 29. ,Upper guide roll I0 is similarly mounted on shaft 3| journaled in a bearing block 32 slidablyfltting in a vertical guideway 33 in Wall 29, block 32 being provided with retaining l flanges 34 fitting recesses 35 in opposite faces of wall 29. A- similar retaining nut 36 on the rear end of shaft 3I holds the'latter against endwise movement.

Guide rolls I and II are arranged in vertical alignment; and means is provided for shifting block 32 to adjust the spacing of roll I8 from roll II. The disclosed construction for this purpose is mounted on cover plate 48 for body 28, and comprises an adjusting screw 4I threaded through plate 40 and provided with an inner head 42 fitting into a horizontal T-slot 43 in the upper end of bearing block 32. Lock nut 44 on screw 4I retains the roll I0 in vertically adjusted position.

Roll I3 is arranged immediately adjacent roll II inhorizontal alignment therewith, and is mounted on shaft 45 journaled in wall 29, carrying on its inner end a miter gear 46 meshing with miter gear 41 on gear shaft 48 extending lengthwise of body 28 and journaled at its ends in said body. For convenience in removing shaft 48 the ends of the shaft may be journaled in bearings 49 carried by bearing caps 58 removably mounted on the ends of body 28 by screws 5I and overlying openings inl said body of sufficient size to permit removal of shaft 48 with gears thereon.

Roll I2 is mounted on shaft 55 journaled in a second bearing block 32, the mounting and adjusting arrangement for which is identical with that heretofore described, and is in vertical alignment with roll I3.

A series of lower straightening rolls I5 is mounted in horizontal alignment with rolls II and I3, each roll I5 being xed to a shaft 58 journaled in wall 29 and carrying a pinion 51 adjacent the rear face of wall 29 as well as a miter gear 46 at the inner end of shaft 56 meshing with a miter gear 41 on shaft 48. Located above and a short distance to one side of each of the lower straightening rolls I5 is an upper straightening roll I4 mounted on a shaft 56 journaled in a bearing block 32 which is mounted and adjusted in the manner already described. A pinion 59 fixed to the inner end of each shaft 58 meshes with pinion 51 on the adjacent lower l straightening roll shaft 56, whereby each roll I4 is positively driven from shaft 48.

As heretofore stated, it is desirable to provide a positive drive for both the upper straightening rolls I4 and the lower straightening rolls I5 as well as transverse adjustment of the relative position of these rolls. This is accomplished most conveniently by driving the upper rolls directly from the lower roll drive; but such an arrangement involves the diiculty of maintaining proper meshing of the gears. In order to maintain efcient operation of intermeshing gears, their pitch circles` must either coincide or vat least must not be spaced by more than a very limited distance, which is substantially less than the desirable range of transverse adjustment of the upper rolls. Intermediate gear trains heretofore employed to avoid this difculty involve complication of the mechanism, loss of power and increased backlash.

An arrangement has been provided which permits the efficient use of a pinion fixed to a lower roll meshing with a pinion fixed to the upper roll and maintaining efficient driving engagement throughout the range of adjustment of the upper roll. This is accomplished by properly controlling the extent to which the driven upper roll is offset along the article path from the driving lower roll, since an increase in the extent or angle o f such offset will substantially reduce the relative movement of the pitch circles of the intermeshing gears caused by a given transverse adjustment of one of the rolls. On the other hand, an increase in such offset will also reduce the extent to which the article is flexed during straightening, and, therefore, is limited by the necessity for maintaining sufficient flexing of the article to straighten it. It has been found, however, that the rolls connected to the intermeshing gears may be offset sufficiently to permit the necessary transverse adjustment while maintaining efliciency of gear operation, without preventing the maintenance of proper flexing, a fact which it is believed has not heretofore been recognized.

For instance, it has been found that if the axis of shaft 58 is offset so that when in normal position it is at an angle of approximately 31.5 from the vertical at the axis of shaft 56, an adjustment which brings rolls I4 and I5 a tenth of an inch closer together vertically will produce a displacement of only .0063 inch in the pitch circles of pinions 51 and 59. It has also been found that when rolls I4 are thus positioned, they are sufficiently offset from rolls I5 to provide the necessary bending of the tubes.

The discharge rolls I8 and I1 are similarly mounted, roll I6 on shaft 68 in bearing block 32 and carrying pinion 59, and roll I1 on shaft 6I carrying pinion 51 and miter gear 46 meshing with a miter gear 41 on shaft 48. Shafts 60 and 6I, however, are in vertical alignment.

The guide rolls I8 and I9 on the horizontal section 21 of the casing are arranged in horizontal alignment in register with the path of the tubes, in position to receive a tube discharged from rolls I6 and I1, being advantageously located immediately adjacent the latter rolls, preferably so that the distance between the bite of rolls I6 and I1 and that of rolls I8 and I9 is less than the diameter of a roll. In the form illustrated roll I8 is mounted on a shaft 65 journaled in the cover 66 ofl body 81 of the horizontal section 21 of the casing, and is held against axial movement by a suitable retaining nut 38 on its inner end, as illustrated in Fig. 5. Roll I9 is fixed to shaft 69 journaled in a bearing block 32 fitting in a suitable guideway 33 in cover 66 and adjusted by screw 4I, the general construction and operation of this adjustable mounting being the same as that already described. Rolls I8 and I9 are idlers; and in order to maintain continuous propulsion of the articles the distance between the discharge rolls I6 and I1, and the initial straightening rolls 20 and 2| of the second series, will be substantially less than the length of the article to be straightened.

It has been found advantageous to provide a mounting bar 18- in the form of an angle having a vertical flange fitting against the front edge of cover 66 and detachably mounted thereon as by screws 1I, adjusting screws 4I being threaded through bar 10. The lower flange of bar 'I8 is detachably connected as by screws to the upper edge of the front wall 12 of body 61, which may be suitably anged and recessed to fit the bar.

A series of straightening rolls 20 are arranged in alignment with guide roll I8, each mounted on a shaft 13 journaled in cover 66. A pinion 14 just below the cover is fixed to each shaft 13 which carries at its lower end a miter gear 15 meshing with a miter gear 16 fixed to gear shaft 11 extending longitudinally of body 61 and journaled at its ends in the body, the left-hand end of shaft 11 being advantageously mounted ina removable bearing cap 50 in the end of body 61 constructed and arranged in the manner already described.

A straightening roll 2| is mounted adjacent each straightening roll' 20 and offset therefrom inthe manner already described in connection with rolls l and l5, each roll 2l being mounted on a shaft 18 journaled in a bearing block 32 constructed and mounted for adjustment in .cover 66 as already set forth, the lower end of each shaft 18 carrying a pinion 19 meshing with 'pinion 'it and designed to retain effective driving engagement therewith throughout the range of normal adjustment in the manner heretofore f indicated.

Rear discharge roll 22 is mounted on shaft 89 journaled in cover 66 and carrying a pinion 18 and miter gear 15 meshing with a miter gear 16 on shaft 1l, the front discharge roll 23 being mounted on shaft 9| journaled in a bearing block 32 and carrying pinion 19 meshing with pinion iti on shaft 89, the construction being the same as that described for each pair of related straightening rolls 28 and 2i, except that rolls 22 and 23 are in transverse alignment relative to the path of the tubes. A suitable arrangement is provided for driv- "ing gear shafts 48 and 11; and for this purpose the sections 26 and 21 of the casing are arranged in overlapping relation with the ends of shafts 48 and 1l in register to facilitate a compact and simple gear drive construction. In the illustrated embodiment this comprises a drive pinion 85 fixed to the right-hand end portion of shaft 11 and meshing with an intermediate pinion 86 journaled in a suitable standard 81 (Fig. 4)- in the body 28. A drive pinion 88 fixed to gear shaft 48 adjacent its left-hand end meshes with intermediate pinion 86 and carries a coaxial miter gear 89 meshing with miter gear 90 on the end of drive shaft 9i which extends rearwardly through the casing body 28 and is journaled therein. vThis is conveniently accomplished by providing a bearing cap 92 fitting over a suitable aperture in the body 28 of sufficient size for access to the adjacent portions of the drive mechanism, cap 92 being detachably mounted on the body 28 as by screws 93. Shaft 9| may carry at its outer end any suitable drive means or drive connection, such as coupling 96.

The described arrangement of rolls and roll drive mechanism is arranged so that it may be carried by a unitary casing 25 comprising section bodies 28 and 61 which are formed integrally from a single casting or the like. Cover plate 40 for the vertical section 26 is detachably mounted as by screws 95 engaging edges of body 28, and the cover plate 66 for the horizontal section 21 is `similarly detachably mounted on body 61 by screws 96. Cover plate 66 is advantageously provided with an upwardly extending wall 91 at its rear right-hand margin, the wall fitting against the bottom of cover plate 4l) and the vertical margins of body 28 in the regions where the body extends above the overlapping portion of horizontal section 21. This arrangement fully exposes the drive gearing when cover plates 48 and 66 are removed, and simplifies the construction of the casing body. The latter may be provided with suitable supports or mounting means,

` such as the mounting ears 98.

The disclosed construction has been particularly designed to straighten small tubes; and therefore all of the rolls numbered Illv through 23 are advantageously provided with grooved tube-engaging faces |00, the curvature of which Vmay, correspond with reasonable closeness to that by detachbly mounting each roll on its respective shaft as by nut I0l. The adjustmentof bearing block 32 likewise permits accurate `adjustment of the machine to diierent sizes of tubes.

In the disclosed arrangement all of the tubeengaging rolls are positively driven except guide rolls It) and Il at the feed end of the machine and guide rolls I8 and I9 'at the beginning of the horizontal section 2. This arrangement assures positive flexing ofthe tubes and the elimination of any possible slippage on idler rolls located in the flexing zone. The provision of the transversely aligned idler guide rolls lil and ii in register with and juxtapositioned to the transverselyvaligned positively driven feed rolls if and i3 facilitates the rapid and accurate introduction of the forward end of each tube between the straightening rolls ifi and l5. Likewise the provision of positively driven transversely aligned discharge rolls i6 and i1 at the end of the vertical series in alignment with the idler guide rolls I8 and i9 at the beginning of the horizontal series assures accurate and positive transfer of each tube from the first to the second 66 with mounting bar 10 exposes the gear shaft,

and also the roll drive pinions and gears mount-l ed on the cover 66. The front rolls and pinions mounted on bearing blocks 32 may .be likewise removed as a unit by detaching the mounting bar 1i).

The principles controlling the relative position of the offset rolls in ofrder to straighten elongated articles by successive undulant bending in two planes at right angles to each other are gen'- eraily recognized; and while the present arrangement has been designed to provide such bending in accordance with the best practice, an explanation of the previous positioning of the various rolls for this purpose is unnecessary. It

is noted, however, that the provision of transverse adjustment for one roll of each pair of straightening rolls makes it possible to set the machine for tubes having varying characteristics, requiring various degrees of bending at vdifferent stages in the straightening operation. Moreover, the -adjustment of one roll of each pair of transversely aligned rolls assured proper engagement with each tubewithout slipping or bind- 1 ing.

I claim: y

1. Straightening apparatus comprising a series of, rolls arranged on 'opposite sides of the path of an article to be straightened to provide an undulating path, a roll drive comprising a plurality of pairs of intermeshing pinions, the pinions of each .pair being rigidly connected'to rolls on opposite sides of the path, and a plurality oi' adjusting devices each arranged to shift a roll and connected pinion transversely to said path, the pinions of each pair being olfset longitudinally of said pathv by a distance suiiicient to maintain the spacing of the pitch circles of said pinions within the limits of effective driving ensagement throughout the range of adjustment of a roll connected to one of the pinions.

2. In-an apparatus for straightening a workpiece, a support, a plurality of means on said support for forming a work path, including a rst roller rotatably mounted on one side of said work path, a first pinion, means mounting said rst pinion on said support for coaxial rotation with said rst roller, a work engaging element on said one side of said path and spaced from said rst roller, bearing guide means on said support, Ysaid bearing guide means forming a slideway with the length thereof extending substantially transverse to the length of the work path between said rst roller and said element, and on the other side of said work path, a second roller, a second pinion rotating coaxially with said second roller and meshing with the rst pinion, bearing means for rotatably supporting said second roller and pinion, and means adjustably mounting said bearing means in the slideway of said bearing guide means whereby said second roller and pinion may be adjusted transversely to said work path with comparatively little relative change between the ,pitch circles of said pinions.

3. In an apparatus for straightening a workpiece, a rst set of ,rollers rotatably mounted on said support in spaced relation to one another so as to define one side of a work path, means for rotating said rollers, a rst plurality of pinions rotatably mounted on said supportfor coaxial rotation with said rollers, respectively, another roller for adjustably defining the other side of said work path, another pinion rotating with and adjustable with said other roller, the

said other pinion meshing with one of said first pinions, a guideway in said. .support extending transverse to said work path, and movable bearing means in said guideway rotatably supporting said other roller and pinion on the other side of said work path with the said other pinion offset along the length of said work path from the said one pinion with which it meshes, whereby the other roller may be adjusted transversely of the work path with comparatively little relative change between the pitch circles of the interrneshing pinions.

4. In an -apparatus for straightening a workpiece, an elongated hollow rectangular box-like support including side walls, a line of fixed bearings extending transversely through one of said side walls and spaced from one edge thereof, shafts rotatably mounted in said fixed bearings, gears on the inner ends of said shafts for driving the same, rollers affixed on the outer end of said shafts and lying adjacent the outer side of said one side wall, pinions aixed on said shafts intermediate the ends thereof and lying adjacent the inner side of said side Wall, said side Wall having a plurality of slots extending inwardly from said one edge at right angles to the line of xed bearings, and being staggered with respect to said fixed bearings, the side Wall adjacent said one edge comprising a plate having a series of openings therethrough registering with said slots, a plurality of bearing blocks slidable in said slots, threaded means engaged through said openings and engaging said bearing blocks 1 for adjustably holding said bearing blocks, axles rotatably mounted in said bearing blocks, rollers aixed on the outer ends of the last-mentioned axles and lying adjacent said one side wall for cooperating with the first-mentioned rollers, and pinions on the inner ends of the last-mentioned axles and respectively meshing with the first- JOSEPH MASON. 

